Business Talk – Monocle founder David Buckham on sustainable finance and solving South Africa’s financial crisis

On this episode of Business Talk with Michael Avery, Monocle Founder and CEO David Buckham discusses the South African and global financial sectors.

Prior to founding Monocle, Buckham worked at ADvTECH as an account manager and content development specialist.

He was then appointed as a Solutions Specialist and the Head of Risk Management at the SAS Institute, before moving to PSG Asset Management – where he also worked as a solutions specialist.

In 2002, Buckham left PSG Asset Management to found Monocle Solutions – and has served as its CEO for over 20 years.

Buckham is also a passionate writer who has authored several journals, opinion pieces, and books.

The interview

In this interview, Buckham begins by discussing the Beyond Banking Conference 2023, which was joint-hosted on 5 July by GIBS and Monocle.

Buckham explains how the conference fills a gap in the South African market for financial leaders to engage in authentic discussions that are not premised on selling other attendees a product or service.

He then discusses what needs to be done to get South Africa removed from the grey list within the next 24 months and gives his view on whether this is likely to happen.

Buckham also speaks about the idea of sustainable finance, including the proposition in Europe to implement punitive capital charges that dissuade banks from funding fossil fuel investments.

He unpacks the issues he has with the narratives being spread surrounding sustainable finance, including the “apocalyptical nature” of the messaging and how it is particularly difficult to implement in fossil fuel-reliant countries like South Africa.

Watch the full interview with David Buckham below.